


An Athlete's Profile

by snoipahs



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, he's a GYMNASSSTTT, olympics 2016 AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 21:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7817956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snoipahs/pseuds/snoipahs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fair amount of eyes have turned to this young rookie, making his Olympic debut at just twenty years of age. A college first year from California, commentators liked to say he came out of nowhere to walk on to the American gymnastics team. But he didn't. Of course he didn't. Roxas had a life; a vivid, storied life long before walking onto the world's stage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Athlete's Profile

As soon as the roar of the crowd started up, Roxas chewed his cheek, slipped his headphones up the back of his neck, and clapped them over his ears.

He felt a little bad; putting on his music to tune everything else out, but he needed to focus. Their cheers of encouragement were nice, but they weren't what he had traveled halfway across the world for.

He didn't notice his hands were shaking until he looked down at his iPod screen. He breathed hard to steady his thumb so he could pick the song he had been saving just for this exact moment. The rest of his teammates lead the way out towards the blazing arena lights and the pristine white gym mats.

The song wasn't exactly a pump-up track. It was a slow-burn, exultant rock ballad. But finally allowing himself to hear those opening notes after two arduous years of training put goosebumps on his skin. When he was finally to his team's row of chairs in the pit of the arena, he fell into one after a smile and few courteous waves for the crowd. He sighed hard and closed his eyes to let his mind wander, knowing he had a long wait ahead of him.

_You're dangerous, 'cause you're honest._

It was sort of brutal of him to force himself not to listen to this one song that meant so much to him. He had an intense personality that way; after all, he had gotten into the sport that took him all the way to the Olympics on a dare.

_You're dangerous, you don't know what you want._

Lea was built like a twig. Even though he was older, Roxas was brutal to his best friend ever since he met him, constantly teasing his scrawny physique and mane of wild red hair that he would never tie back. Mocking those stupid leotards and bemoaning the fact he was always turning down his invitations to hang out because he had practice, practice, practice.

"I'd like to see you even _try_ to do what I do," the redhead finally snapped back.

Roxas broke his wrist the moment he tried to hop up on the pommel horse. Lea laughed so hard he cried.

_Well, you left my heart empty as a vacant lot..._

Everyone he knew was stunned to watch him take so strongly to gymnastics. He had grown up skating and surfing, breaking his bones on concrete and halfpipe and running out of breath under waves, not under the pressure to be perfect.

His brothers were the harshest on him. They threw back every teasing he had ever uttered to Lea, all in the interest of fairness and good fun, of course.

_...For any... spirit to haunt..._

His brothers. Ventus and Vanitas, the older set of twins. Ven was the oldest of all of them. Then there was Sora, older of the younger pair by about four minutes. Not a day went by where Roxas ever forgot he was part of a matched set. He couldn't.

Sora was the prodigy among them for a time. He took home silver at the Surfing World Open when he was just seventeen years old. But more impressive than his youth, the commentators literally could not stop mentioning the fact that this smiley kid with a mess of thick brown hair was the second youngest in a set of quadruplets.

_Hey, hey, sha-la-la..._

It was just dumb luck that tournament took place in their home state. There's no way they could have afforded to go anywhere else, even if Sora could qualify, even if sponsors would take him.

But then again, California wasn't technically their home state at all. When the camera hovered over Roxas to flash on the mega screen his full name and country, the city listed next to 'hometown' was Honolulu, Hawaii.

_Hey, hey... sha, la la..._

Even though the four of them never knew their parents, they were always well-cared for by relatives and friends in the community. But one day, a retired scientist named Ansem who had been like a brother to their father offered to take them in for good. He lived all the way in California, so they all moved to the mainland when they were ten years old.

He was a kind man, a very decent man, but an awkward and ineffective parental presence at best. The boys even called him 'doctor' in teasing, despite his insistence otherwise.

The California hills where they moved were so beautiful, though. Roxas fell madly in love with them the moment he laid eyes on them.

_Who's gonna ride your wild horses?_

His life truly started when he moved to the mainland. Ansem quickly became as loving a caretaker as any, yet still they affectionately called him Doc despite growing well out of their childish rebellious streaks.

The four of them were popular in school, as a novelty. Roxas made his first best friend outside of his brothers, Hayner, when he was thirteen. They scrounged up enough money for a skateboard to share, then rode it into the ground. He let Hayner take it with him when he moved away.

When he started high school, he met Lea, then a senior who had taken a mentor's liking to him and one other girl his age.

He was fifteen years old when he first met her.

_Who's gonna drown in your blue sea?_

Her hair was black as night, her skin dark and rich like caramel. Her giggle was like the chime of a bell. Her smile made him weak in the knees. She made him laugh, made him blush, made him revel, and made him whole.

Her name was Xion.

She was his best friend before she was his first and only love.

_Who's gonna ride your wild horses..._

His high school years went by too fast. He tried to make them last by playing a sport in every season, and took a particular liking to lacrosse. He even lettered as a freshman, and Xion proudly wore his varsity jacket until the seams were worn and weary. Sora usually had the company of his twin when he went to the beach early in the morning before school to surf, too.

Lea graduated just a year after Roxas had even entered high school, but the three of them stayed close since his college was nearby. Lea had always done gymnastics as a hobby, but got serious about it when he ended up making his university's club team. That was when the teasing _really_ escalated.

That was also when Roxas had to sit out a season of lacrosse with a broken wrist.

_Who's gonna fall at the foot of thee?_

He fell for the sport so hard, he joined a gymnastics club team. Now there wasn't a moment of free time Roxas didn't spend on either the sports he was committed to in school or the one he was quickly taking up outside it for extra exercise and fun. But he stretched himself too thin, both physically and emotionally.

He tore his shoulder on the rings, trying to do too much.

He tore his girlfriend's heart in two, trying to do too much.

_Well, you stole it, 'cause I needed the cash._

Roxas finally started thinking of himself as an athlete when he realized that sports took all his time and then some. He realized he was letting them take too much.

When he graduated, he finally felt free of his obligations to his teams, trivial as they might have been for someone so young. He still practiced gymnastics, mostly to spend time with Lea, whom he couldn't otherwise see.

The rest of his time went to his family and Xion. He even felt like taking a year off before college, if he decided that it was in his future.

But then, when he was eighteen, Ansem died.

_And you killed it, 'cause I wanted revenge._

It was a blow to the four of them, so much so that it unraveled all the pride and joy they felt for Sora's surfing victory just a year ago.

It wasn't a problem, legally, since they could all prove they were self-sustaining, of-age adults. Ansem was kind enough to leave them everything he had.

Roxas' one regret was never telling him he truly did think of him as a father, and felt he was a pretty damn good one, at that.

_Well, you lied to me, 'cause I asked you to._

Soon enough Roxas was spending all his time at the university gym. He had to put so much into getting the higher-level maneuvers down, the ones that demanded all of his finesse and drained all of his stamina. It infuriated him to watch all the other boys make it look see easy, because they had all been in the sport since they were still in car seats. Roxas had only started at the beginning of high school.

But in reality, the gap in skill between him and them was no where near as big as he perceived. They wouldn't admit it, but Lea's friend made them all nervous.

Practice was all he had to take his mind off everything that happened, and give his idle life some direction again. He grieved in his own intense way; he trained harder, worked longer, and loved fiercer than he ever had before. The rest of the gymnasts also found his taste in obscure alternative and classic rock odd when he first started blasting it during his workouts, but soon enough he had them all hooked on the absurdly emotive music. 

Whenever he took a day off, which wasn't often, and Xion found him dozing on the couch, she would cover him with a blanket, set his phone to silent, and let no one over to see him. The boy she loved more than anything still needed so much rest, and she would be damned if she wasn't going to make sure he got it.

_Baby, can we still be friends?_

Ventus and Vanitas had gone off to college upstate on full rides like the little geniuses they were. Ven toiled over organic chem while Van went for his psych pre-med, and Sora and Roxas had to admit they were the dumb jocks of the family.

But Sora still kept up his academic pursuits while surfing full-time, spending evenings at the community college. Since his older brothers weren't around to help anymore, he had to get a tutor to help him through most of his prerequisites, but she was so nice. She had rose-red hair, and freckles everywhere. Her name was Kairi.

_Hey, hey, sha-la-la..._

Ven and Van were home in the winter and summer of their freshman years, and while they were they consistently bugged Roxas to get his life started. Sora even chimed in, insisting that he should just start classes with him, if nothing else.

But Roxas was annoyed at the notion that school was his surest option, that it was what his time and energy should be going to. He couldn't wrap his mind around it, not after he watched Xion finally receive her auto-body mechanic’s license and start working full time at her grandfather’s classic car repair shop.

She had never seen her look so happy, so fulfilled. She told him he had to find that feeling for himself.

_Hey, hey, sha la la..._

Roxas applied to Lea's university for the hell of it, even though he already knew what the answer was going to be. His grades just weren't good enough.

But even if he wasn't a real student there it was as though he was basically on their gymnastics team anyway. He sat in on all their practices. He made friends with the other members, and hell, even the coaches started to invest in his development, giving him pointers and encouragement because he simply had too much talent to be ignored.

_Who's gonna ride you wild horses?_

Admissions finally relented in the spring. Roxas didn't know it then, but the gymnastics coaches were literally threatening to quit if they wouldn't let this kid into their school.

Xion screamed when his acceptance letter came in the mail. He took an overload of courses in the summer to get a head start on making up the semester he missed. Kairi was around a lot more to help both him and Sora; they'd started dating, after all.

Unfortunately, Lea actually did quit the team in his senior year. He was a solid asset to it, but he had a more pressing problem in his personal life. He remained Roxas and Xion's dear friend, but hid so much pain and envy at their perfect love while his own had gone so wrong.

_Who's gonna drown in your blue sea?_

Lea's departure stung, but it also fueled Roxas by leaving him some big shoes to fill. His late start also had him hungry to prove himself.

His nose was to the grindstone until Spring. The rest of the team was anxious when the head coach pinned the Olympic trails sign-up sheet to the gym's bulletin board. They just gathered around it and stared, not daring to go near it.

Roxas strode right up to it and put his name at the very top of the blank list. In Sharpie.

_Who's gonna ride your wild horses?_

No one took him seriously at the preliminary trails. The out-of-state judges didn't even look twice, as he was unable to stand out in the sea of private school brats and super seniors who were practically professionals already.

But they couldn't phase Roxas, even if he was just a freshman who'd only ever been in regional competitions.

His all-around routine was risky, incorporating elements he hadn't had the time to perfect. He paid the price; on his floor performance, while trying to recover from a stationary flair, he faulted and stepped out of bounds. It wasn't devastating, but it shook him.

It didn't matter. He couldn't let it matter. All that mattered was his best event; the pommel horse.

Each and every one of his elements was perfect, the transitions seamless. One of the judges even gaped at how long he held his vertical handstand. After his dismount, his feet slammed down perfectly level on the mat and onto the world's stage from that moment on.

_Who's gonna fall at the foot of thee..._

He knew right then at the trials that he had qualified to go, and in all honesty, that was enough for him. He had to wait a while for his coaches to navigate some bureaucratic red tape, and for the Olympic committee to officially decide on the final lineup, but he really didn't mind. His pommel horse score at the trial was his best yet.

Xion was about a hundred times more anxious than he was. She juggled his phone in her hands night and day, waiting for it to ring, needing to know so badly.

When it finally did, both their hearts stopped, and they stared at it for what seemed like an eternity as it rattled and rung in her hand. After three rings, Roxas took it from her and answered.

_Oh, the deeper I spin..._

Roxas could laugh just thinking about that phone call. The guy on the other end, who had a heavy accent, sounded so casual, like an old friend inviting him out on a holiday.

"What are you doing this August?"

"Well, I don't know, yet. Why?"

"Would you like to compete in the Summer Olympics?"

He cupped his hand to the receiver and made eye contact with Xion, tears streaming down her cheeks. When he smiled weakly and slowly nodded, she gasped all the air out of her lungs, and slapped her hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming. Roxas had just enough composure to thank him and accept the invitation before hanging up, at which point he himself burst into happy tears and lurched forward to kiss his girlfriend until his lips ached.

_Took a drive in the dirty rain..._

Sora was the only one of his brothers with a free enough schedule to go, and of course Xion was going no matter what. Money was still an issue, but when Ventus and Vanitas came home from school and handed him an envelope full of it as both a congratulations and good luck, he hugged the both of them so hard that their ribs nearly cracked. Lea, too, was there to say goodbye, and it was all he had not to cry because he was so proud of his best friend.

Roxas had to travel with the national team, so he left a few days early. Before he did, though, he made sure Ven and Van had tucked away the special present that he had asked them to. When he was on the plane he plucked it out of the envelope and held it in a safe place, now only worried over how he would get it to Sora for safekeeping until the time was right.

_...To a place where the wind calls your name..._

It was more than a little uncomfortable in the Olympic Village at first. The facilities were perfectly accommodating, with enough enough food to serve the entire population of consistently voracious competitors, but it was just a touch overwhelming to be in the presence of so many amazing and world-famous athletes. It was also kind of hilarious to watch them do things that normal people did, like brush their teeth or laugh loudly at stupid Vines.

Roxas let his family in as his guests to show them around the first day they arrived. Sora discreetly picked up the special present, and later the three of them happened upon some Australian swimmers that they recognized as surfers, too. When the Australians recognized Sora back, he nearly fainted. Roxas and Xion had to fan him back to life with the autographs they were kind enough to give.

The gymnastics coaches wouldn't let the team march in the opening ceremony that evening since they had qualifiers early the morning after. Instead Roxas joined the other grounded athletes in getting all dressed up with nowhere to go, throwing on his official Ralph Lauren blazer and strutting around the halls in the American team's full opening ceremony ensemble, much to Xion's delight.

"Jesus. You look like you're on your way to a Memorial Day barbecue in Hamptons," Sora commented, laughing at his white chino shorts and tricolor boat shoes. "Are we all invited onto your parents' yacht for spring break, Chad?"

"Shut up," Xion snapped while lovingly smoothing out her boyfriend's collar and then sighing, never having seen him in clothes so nice. "He looks so _handsome_."

"I come from money, old girl," Roxas joked in a thick New England accent as he yanked his lapels and winked. "I can take care of you an' yours."

She audibly swooned and threw himself into his arms, all while Sora rolled his eyes and mumbled that he was going to be sick.

_Under the tree, the river, laughing at you and me..._

The men's gymnastics teams spent the first few days of the games banging out qualifiers, staying comfortable in the rankings. His events were all mostly in the evenings, leaving him free in the daytime to go around with Sora and Xion and watch other events, cheering themselves hoarse for their home country.

When the Americans advanced, like everybody had predicted they would, Roxas had just one night off before the final. His girlfriend and brother took him for a long evening walk on the beach to calm his nerves, but Sora peeled off about halfway to join the Australians in the midst of their casual beach volleyball game. Before he did, though, he squeezed his brother’s shoulder, slipped a little velvet box into his shorts' pocket, and winked knowingly before running off.

Roxas felt the weight of the box for the rest of their walk; light, but somehow unbearably heavy as brutal anticipation ruled his entire conscious. Xion simply kept strolling along at his side, swinging his hand and humming to herself, completely oblivious.

_Hallelujah._

His plan was to wait for sunset. Their first kiss had been at sunset. He first played the song he was currently listening to to her at sunset, and watched her face break into a grin at the lyrics. Fair to say, they had fallen in love over sunsets. All his outings with her, to the beach, the mountains, the desert; all he ever heard her say that resonated with him so strongly she had said while he was gazing at her in the light of a dying day.

When that intense orange and yellow light began to glow on the horizon, it slowed the both of them, captivating Xion entirely as she stood beneath his arm and stroked his lower back. She gave him a confused look when he suddenly pulled away, and took her hands in his.

Her heart stopped beating when he got down on one knee.

_Heaven's wide road, the doors you open..._

Sora snuck back into the Olympic Village with Roxas' keycard, and in his room he explained to his brother's roommates and the rest of the gymnastics team what was happening. They were all crowded around his bed, staring so intently at his phone, waiting for the news.

After sunset, the text came in.

Yes. Yes, a thousand times yes. They all burst into cheers and applause. Sora started crying in front of the full room of half-strangers; he just couldn't contain himself. His best friend was going to become his sister-in-law. His other half would be with the one he loved more than anything for the rest of his life.

_I just can't close._

With his new friends keeping his presence dutifully under wraps, Sora quietly spent the night in Roxas' bed in the village. He left the happy couple the hotel room, where only one of the two beds was in use by morning.

Xion couldn't stop twisting the new ring on her finger, watching the dawning light glint off of it. He stroked her beneath the sheets, savoring her touch for as long as he could before he would have to go. She would send him off with a completely clear head, not a nervous thought in his mind.

They shared a long kiss outside in the hall, knowing they wouldn't see each other again for the rest of the day. When he absolutely couldn't stay a moment longer, she let him go.

But not before putting her lips to his ear and whispering, "Now, you go get your own gold."

_Who's gonna ride you wild horses?_

When he met up with the rest of his teammates, they had a mix of congratulations and grievances for him; of course they were glad to hear about his engagement, and yet they were visibly annoyed that they had to subside on a breakfast of vitamins and tasteless protein shakes while he was off spending the morning with his new fiancée. Overall they were happy for him, but still.

The finals weren’t until late afternoon, but he still had to warm himself up with a series of practice regiments and sit through a multitude of pep talks from his coaches.

He did his best to focus, but all day his mind kept drifting, replaying the memory where he got to slip an engagement ring on Xion’s finger and twirl her around in the surf.

_Who’s gonna drown in your blue sea?_

"Alright, alright, people," Vanitas called out. "When your brother goes to the Olympics, you can all hold your own house parties and run your mouths all you want."

They all laughed. Just about everyone the four brothers had ever met were all crowded into the living room of their house, Ansem's house, to watch Roxas and cheer him on. Hayner had come all the way from San Francisco along with all his friends from middle school. Kairi and her sister Naminé, barely knowing anyone without Sora, Roxas, or Xion around, still felt like family. Vanitas clicked the T.V. volume up and up as the commentators touted that the men's gymnastics team final was just moments away from starting.

"But when my flesh and blood is on T.V., I want zipped lips."

"How drunk are you?" Ventus stood at his twin's side and rolled his eyes.

"Who brought this six pack?" Van wondered aloud, checking the label of his half-empty beer.

"I did," Lea laughed. He hadn't even gotten to have one.

"You should've brought two." Vanitas then downed the rest of the bottle and turned the volume all the way up.

_Who’s gonna taste your saltwater kisses…_

“There he is,” Ven pointed out, earning everyone’s attention. The camera had turned down to the athlete’s waiting area, and was slowly panning over them as they waited to begin the competition. Their brother was sitting with his legs spread, head tipped to the wall behind him, eyes limply closed.

“Is he fucking _sleeping_?” Van snorted. Even a commentator made a lighthearted joke about his apparently relaxed nature. “Oh my god, Ven. Our brother’s having a nap at the goddamned _Olympics_.”

“No, he’s just got headphones on… I think.” his twin replied. The view lingered before cutting away to the stand, at which point the room erupted into groans and laughter.

_Who’s gonna take the place of me…?_

A bolt of adrenaline snapped through Roxas’ entire body when he felt a hand on his shoulder, waking him from his daydream. He had been so lost in it that, for a moment, he forgot where he even was. As soon as he saw his coach’s face staring down at him, making sure he knew he was up next, it registered.

Roxas quickly nodded, more than a little embarrassed to have been caught so indisposed. His coach gave him two thumbs up and walked off, at which point Roxas sat up straight and set his hands on his knees, but not before pulling his headphones off and setting them aside.

The last line of his song played to the seat cushion at his side as he rose to his feet and started for the mat.

_Who's gonna tame the heart of thee..._

Sora bounced his knee, Xion chewed her lower lip until it was raw. Their seat in the stands was a fair ways up, but they still had a perfect view of him thanks to the LCD display at the far end of the arena. Their faces were glued to it, waiting for his name to appear on the upcoming roster. When it finally did, Xion buried her face in her hand.

“Oh, god, I can’t watch,” she whined, threading her fingers through Sora’s and squeezing as hard as she possibly could. “Tell me when it’s okay to look.”

“When’s it okay to look?” he asked playfully, soothing her by rubbing his hand in circles around her upper back.

“When he’s on the podium.”

_This fresh face, earned his place on the American team thanks to his outstanding talent on the pommel horse, receiving the highest score in the event at trails. He may not rank high enough in the all-around to contend for individual gold, but he is definitely a major asset to this already heavily favored team._

The commentators killed time by rattling off their notes on this particular athlete who was standing next to the stairs, hands on his hips, rocking his weight from leg to leg as he waited for the floor to open.

When Sora and Xion realized they had a camera on them as well, they came to life, both waving and mouthing things to their family, whom they were sure were watching back home. The commentators, caught of guard by their enthusiasm, laughed candidly.

_We see his family in the stands, there, come all the way from California to support him;_

_older brother Sora, and fiancée, Xion…_

The announcer silently read his script, and broke into a smile before speaking the rest of it aloud.

_What a heartwarming story, folks; that ring she's excitedly waving at the camera is brand new. High school sweethearts, they became engaged... just yesterday! On Copacabana Beach!_

Some fawns at that. Back home, their entire extended family cheered and raised their glasses.

_Athletics run in the family; his twin brother here, Sora, is an accomplished competitive surfer in his own right... Actually, that's just one of his three brothers; by minutes, Roxas is the youngest of... quadruplets!_

There it was. Ventus and Vanitas smiled. But Xion and Sora’s picture had quickly become less interesting to broadcast as Roxas’ start time drew closer and closer. As soon as the last athlete cleared the floor, their serious stares were glued to the mat.

_But, ah, as you can see, the only sport that matters to them here tonight is gymnastics._

Roxas raised his arm, saluting the judges, completely composed. He strode over to the pommel horse, never surer of anything else in his life, so different than the way he had felt just last night before asking his true love to be his forever. His fingers, powdered with chalk, ached to be around those handles so he could to prove to the world he had earned his right to be here.

As soon as his palm graced the leather, muscle memory had control of him. The routine he had practiced a thousand times before for just this one performance began.

_And now this young rookie will attempt to replicate that same success here, where it really counts._

Roxas had always heard other athletes his caliber and higher talk about their minds going completely blank when they performed their routines. It was so eerie, they said, the silence in their heads. Scary, even.

He couldn't relate in the slightest.

While his body was laser-focused, his mind ran wild with the sensations that graced his flesh. Each one was a different memory, a powerful emotion.

His grip on the pommel handle became his twin brother's hand; he remembered squeezing it so hard while they sat for his hand-tapped tattoo. A flash of red he saw in the stands as be spun; a banner was the color of his best friend's hair, the same impossibly bright crimson. The tightness in his chest as he held a handstand wasn't strain, but sadness, sadness like he felt on the day the only man he had ever considered a father died.

Moments before his dismount, he really lost himself when he made the mistake of giving in to his senses and closing his eyes. He could see the sunset over the California hills. Feel the Hawaiian sea breeze on his bare limbs.

A bit of moisture; his own sweat, lingered on his lips, and he breathed in a sharp hiss of breath, tasting his lover's kiss.

He felt her and nothing else as he sprung off the mount and sailed through thin air.

When his feet slammed  down on the mat, he promptly raised his fingers towards a ceiling that may as well not have been there.

His performance was flawless.

Just flawless.

_...That will be enough, folks. That'll be more than enough._

No one could claim the team all-around event had an unexpected outcome. The gold went to the favorites.

Still, when Roxas felt the weight of the medal being hung around his neck, he nearly collapsed. He knew he couldn't fall apart on the podium, not with his teammates all around him, not with the world watching. Tears burned the corners of his vision, and he quietly cursed himself for not being able to keep it together.

He imagined that if he cried on national television, Van would be watching him, laughing and teasing. Ven would be hitting him, telling him to knock it off. If only he could have seen the way they were bawling like children for their little brother in front of their entire party.

Sora, too, had tears in his eyes as he looked on from the stands. He was clutching Xion, rubbing her back and shoulders as she shook like a leaf and just sobbed.

Even above the roar of the crowd, and the starting swell of the national anthem, Sora could hear her small voice as he held and comforted her so intimately.

"My Roxas..." Xion had both hands over her mouth, pinching her engagement ring between her fingers and holding it so tightly.

"That's my... Roxas..."

_Let’s watch the medal ceremony, now._

You had to sing along. You just had to.

What else could you do with the camera in your face, broadcasting your every pore to your entire home country? It was also a good distraction, to keep yourself from crying too profusely.

But more than anything, Roxas was of the belief that his national anthem kicked ass. Along with the rest of his team, so they proudly mouthed the words together as they held their hands over their hearts and looked up at their flag, raised higher than any other in the stadium. Their smiles just doubled when it dawned on them that they were the ones who put it there.

_That about wraps up our coverage of the men's team all-around finals, folks. Now, onto the aquatic stadium..._

The thicket of people all trying to clear out of the gymnasium at once was staggering. Most were considerate enough to give the athletes their breadth, but some tried to crowd the medalists. Roxas couldn't so much as manage a smile at the fans; he was too preoccupied rapidly scanning their midst for his family.

He was looking in the wrong direction when someone broke through. She was almost stopped by security, before they realized she had every right to be there, to rush him.

Roxas felt her body slam into his before he even saw her face. She clutched his cheeks in her palms and yanked him down to her lips. Cheers erupted as they kissed.

But he couldn't hear them. Time slowed to a crawl. His senses surrendered to her, only her. Muscle memory had him wrap an arm around her waist. Like second nature, he pursed his lips and kissed her as passionately as he had a thousand times before.

Only now, he felt her own tears streaming down his cheeks. When he reached his fingers up to her hand and felt the crystal ring she accepted from him, he couldn't breathe. He realized he had just conquered his present and had his arms literally wrapped around his future.

He could only erupt into an elated inhale again when he felt another pair of strong arms being thrown around the both of them and squeezing so tightly.

"We're so proud of you," Sora cried, not because it needed to be said, but because he couldn't help himself.

Xion, face pressed to his sweating chest, nodded frantically. Thoughts of all the times he had ever been absent from her life because of training just evaporated as she held him, her cheek pressed to that shiny medal hanging around his neck.

Roxas hugged his brother back and tried to laugh, but even that broke into a sob.

"Thank you, thank you," Roxas managed to reply, despite being completely overcome with emotion. "Thank you both so much..."

He had to stop himself to gasp for air, laugh breathlessly, and wipe his eyes, but the two people he loved most in the world stayed in his arms and kept right on crying.

"For everything..." He kissed Xion's temple, and pulled Sora close by the side of his neck. "...Thank you."

They continued to laugh and cry and just nod, accepting his exultant thanks even though he was the one who had just earned an Olympic gold medal. Still, he was the last thing on his own mind. The only thing on his mind, in his heart, and coming off his lips were three simple words.

"I love you..." he said loud enough for both of them to hear.

They all squeezed each other just a little tighter. In the next perfect moment, Roxas' words to them became his entire being.

_Thank you for my life. I love you so much._

**Author's Note:**

> I LOVE!! SPORTS!!!!!! and our gymnastics boys are so!!! damn!!! cute!!!! i know USA didn't actually win the all-round this year and i have a VERY limited knowledge of how gymnastics is actually judged but lol just go with it, it's an AU, it's fine, i promise  
> song he reminisces to is Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses by U2  
> (comments let me live)


End file.
